Huawei's ties with the Chinese government have raised concerns that its
equipment could be used to spy on communications

The UK government is to conduct a review of Huawei’s Cyber Security Evaluation Centre in Oxfordshire, following a report by the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) into foreign involvement in the UK’s critical national infrastructure.

Huawei has been publicly criticised by senior American politicians and blacklisted from Australia's critical national infrastructure, but in the UK the company supplies equipment to a number of communications companies including BT, TalkTalk, O2 and Everything Everywhere.

The ISC report, published in June, particularly criticised the government’s processes of considering national security issues at the time that BT and Huawei started working together nearly ten years ago, describing them as “insufficiently robust”. BT’s network underlies much of the UK’s national infrastructure.

In a written response to the ISC’s report, the government acknowledges that, at the time of the BT/Huawei case in 2003-06, the security process should have been more rigorous. However, it claims that improvements to the system have been made since then.

“Indeed the National Security Council (NSC), which was not in existence at the time of the BT/Huawei contract, can and does consider similar issues today in order to ensure that HMG’s approach balances economic prosperity and commercial competitiveness with national security,” it stated.

The National Security Adviser will now carry out a review Huawei’s Cyber Security Evaluation Centre (known as the 'Cell'), and will report to the Prime Minister later in the year.

“While we recognise that there are some benefits associated with the current staffing arrangements for the Cell, these do not, in our opinion, outweigh the risks of Huawei effectively policing themselves,” read the report.

However, the government expressed its confidence that the networks in the UK that use Huawei equipment are operated to a high standard of security and integrity.

The concerns about Huawei equipment stem from the company’s close ties with the Chinese government. Huawei's founder, Ren Zhengfei, is a former Red Army officer, but the company denies receiving any financial support from the government.

“We take threats to our critical national infrastructure very seriously and need to be responsive to changes in a fast-moving and complex, globalised telecommunications marketplace,” said a spokesperson for the Cabinet Office.

Meanwhile, Huawei said that it supports the decision that the National Security Advisor should review the Cyber Security Evaluation Centre.

"Huawei shares the same goal as the UK government and the ISC in raising the standards of cyber security in the UK and ensuring that network technology benefits UK consumers. Huawei is open to new ideas and ways of working to improve cyber security," the company said in a statement.